The present invention relates to a guiding means for a brake pad arrangement of a disk brake, with a base body which comprises a guiding section provided for guiding a guiding protrusion of the brake pad arrangement, and a fixing section which is provided for fixing the guiding means to a brake carrier, wherein the fixing section has two contact surfaces and a stop surface connecting the two contact surfaces, and at least one elastic holding bracket is provided on the stop surface, which holding bracket is in holding engagement with the brake carrier at least in some sections.
Such guiding means are known from the prior art and are disclosed for example in the document U.S. Pat. No. 6,527,090 B1. The document describes a spring element acting as guiding means, the spring element having a first section which can be attached to a support bracket of a disk brake and a second section which can receive a protrusion of a brake pad. The first section has two elastic holding arms which are provided on opposite side edges of the first section. The two holding arms on the sides of the first section of the spring element bear against opposite side faces of a protrusion on the support bracket so as to be able to keep the spring element in its position on the protrusion of the support bracket. To this end, the two holding arms according to the document U.S. Pat. No. 6,527,090 are bent toward the support bracket at bending sites which are located on the side edges of the spring element, that is to say the holding arms are formed elastically on the spring element.
The holding arms of the spring element or of the guiding means are arranged on the support bracket in such a way that they are oriented in the direction of the actuation force of the brake pad arrangement. The holding arms of the spring element are thus loaded when the brake pad arrangement is actuated with the actuation force, since they are intended to keep the spring element in its predetermined position on the protrusion of the support bracket counter to the actuation force of the brake pad arrangement.
In order that the holding arms of the spring element can withstand the loads brought about by the actuation force of the brake pad arrangement and also the vibrations that occur during operation of a vehicle, the elastic holding arms of the spring element must be suitably designed, that is to say suitably dimensioned for these loads.
One problem addressed by the present invention is that of providing a guiding means which has greater stiffness and greater strength while using less material.
This problem is solved by a guiding means for a brake pad arrangement according to claim 1.
Preferred embodiments will become apparent from the appended dependent claims 2 to 9.